The Sanatoga Post

The corner of Armand Hammer Boulevard and High Street in Pottstown

SANATOGA PA – “That’s the way you do it,” rock singer Mark Knopfler and the band Dire Straits crooned in 1986. “Get your money for nuthin’ and your chicks for free.”

Their pop song, “Money For Nothing,” was a big hit during the MTV and VH1 video music era. Now, 25 years later, it may be a golden oldie of sorts in the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township municipal building too.

• Watch a video of Dire Straits performing “Money For Nothing” in Switzerland during 1992, above, or see it at the YouTube user account of kmhjyellow.

Don’t misunderstand: there are no – repeat NO – chicks or other forms of animal life involved in a deal to which the Board of Commissioners agreed earlier this month (July 7, 2011). But board members think the township may have gotten a more than $20,000 gift, its own money for nothing, by simply saying “yes” to an offer from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

PennDOT is preparing for work to begin in 2012 on the reconstruction of bridges near, and a reconfiguration of roads at, the Armand Hammer Boulevard exit of U.S. Route 422 on Lower Pottsgrove’s southwest side. The agency needed ground the township owns – literally, a portion of the Armand Hammer roadway and right-of-way, Manager Rodney Hawthorne said – to rebuild one of the 422 ramps there. It offered to pay $20,900 for the parcel.

“Is that a fair price?,” Commissioner Michael McGroarty asked. “Don’t know,” Hawthorne replied. PennDOT surely has paperwork to document the value, he added.

“Are we using the property for anything?,” Commissioner James Kaiser chipped in. It’s a road now, Hawthorne said of the boulevard piece, and it’ll be a road later as well. “Then let’s take their money,” Kaiser said with a grin.

The board approved, unanimously.

You could almost hear a guitar faintly wailing in the background.

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ July 7 meeting):

• Township Sells PennDOT Some Asphalt, Makes $20K
• Vacant Home Neighbors Worry About Property Values
• Township Holds Off On Police Radio Upgrade Decision
• The Post Providing Monthly Township Warrants Online
• NRC Staffers Stop By, Say ‘Hi’ To Commissioners
• Italian Restaurant Construction Could Start Within Weeks
• At Township DUI Check, They Got What They Paid For
• Police Radio Discussion Possible In Township’s Meeting

The corner of Armand Hammer Boulevard and East High Street in Pottstown borough.

POTTSTOWN PA – Yet another attempt to rename a portion of Armand Hammer Boulevard that crosses Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township at its southwest corner has been rejected by the Board of Commissioners. This time, though, the request from the Pottstown branch of the NAACP came with something it previously lacked: acceptance of the idea by some boulevard businesses.

Commissioners last week (March 7, 2011) decided to nonetheless deny the latest of several pleas from Newstell Marable Sr., president of the Pottstown unit of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Marable has campaigned in recent years to change the highway’s name to honor slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“I don’t think it’s time for a change,” Commissioner James Kaiser said. “It’s only going to create an expense for businesses” on Armand Hammer to revise the address on their stationery, business cards, and other items, he added. His colleagues unanimously agreed; board President Jonathan Spadt, who was absent from the meeting, did not vote.

The board similarly said no to earlier requests by Marable, who last raised the subject in Lower Pottsgrove during September 2008. The boulevard crosses part of the borough of Pottstown as well, and Marable’s proposal has also been repeatedly denied by the borough council.

With his most recent e-mail inquiry to Spadt and township Manager Rodney Hawthorne, however, Marable obviously anticipated Kaiser’s concern. He wrote that he talked in advance with, and reportedly received agreement from, managers of three prominent businesses on Armand Hammer – the Aldi supermarket, Home Depot, and A.D. Moyer Lumber – for the name change.

The plaza where Home Depot, Aldi, and Eye Consultants of Pennsylvania are located.

Such agreements do not constitute ringing endorsements, nor do they represent a majority of businesses with an Armand Hammer address. But they are the first-ever indication of willingness by a handful of commercial taxpayers in what commissioners have long-promoted as “business-friendly” Lower Pottsgrove to even consider honoring King in such a manner.

A fourth business Marable contacted, Eye Consultants of Pennsylvania PC, did not agree to the change, he wrote.

The Pottstown NAACP believes that “renaming of Armand Hammer Boulevard to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard would highlight our area’s dedication to the values of justice and equality for all,” Marable wrote. King, who played a central role in civil rights leadership and for whom a federal holiday is observed in February, was assassinated April 4, 1968.

Related:

• Commissioners Again Reject Boulevard Name Change
• Proposal Could Put Two Names On Armand Hammer Blvd.
• Boulevard Name Remains The Same

Related (to the Lower Pottsgrove Board of Commissioners’ March 7 meeting):

• Commissioners Again Reject Boulevard Name Change
• To Those Who Dug Out, Lower Pottsgrove Salutes You
• Commissioners Approve Park Trail Bid Advertising
• Sprogels Run Park Project On Commissioners’ Agenda

POTTSTOWN PA – What’s in a name? Recognition, honor, power … and possibly confusion for drivers along the border between the borough of Pottstown and Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township.

The corner of Armand Hammer Boulevard and East High Street in Pottstown borough.

Borough Council, during its meeting Monday night (Dec. 13, 2010) in downtown Pottstown, again heard a plea from Newstell Marable, president of the Pottstown chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), to rename Armand Hammer Boulevard for slain civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., according to Roy’s Rants blogger Roy Keeler. Marable has promoted re-naming the short, four-lane highway after King for several years.

Monday night’s suggestion carried a new twist, though, Keeler wrote after attending the session. Marable told council members they should approve the name change for the portion of the boulevard under Pottstown’s jurisdiction, even if Lower Pottsgrove refused to approve a similar change for the portion within its borders.

Under Marable’s plan, the same street could conceivably bear two different names, with the change occurring at about its mid-point.

The township Board of Commissioners in September 2008 voted unanimously against Marable’s written request to rename the boulevard. At the time, board members said the change would create an economic hardship for business owners who must pay to have signs, letterheads, business cards, and official documents reflect a new name.

Marable told council members he has spoken to representatives of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation regarding the re-naming, and urged the council to involve state Sen. John Rafferty – who represents residents of both municipalities in the Pennsylvania Senate – and PennDOT in the effort.

The council took no official action on Marable’s request, Keeler indicated.

• Read the Roy’s Rants article, “Pottstown Borough Council Meeting 12/13/10,” here.
• Read a Post story on the September 2008 commissioners’ decision, here.

SANATOGA PA – Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township planners demonstrated Monday (May 18, 2009) they could be flexible in helping both industrial property owners and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) meet their respective goals.

Being marketed.

Members of the township Planning Commission, in their monthly meeting at the municipal building, 2199 Buchert Rd., gave Occidental Chemical Corp. and BCW Associates Ltd. up to 12 months to identify and place certain lot line markers, called monuments, on adjoining parcels they own at 351 and 375 Armand Hammer Blvd. The properties are part of an industrial and business park being marketed on the site of the former Occidental manufacturing plant.

A portion of the properties faces U.S. Route 422 near the Armand Hammer Boulevard interchange, where PennDOT has told Occidental it may rebuild and modify the highway within a year. Placing the monuments immediately,  considered a standard engineering practice, would increase Occidental’s costs if the highway department later used a slice of the frontage in its reconstruction, a company representative told board members.

“I’d like to pay for setting the pins just once, not twice,” he said. The board agreed, and offered the 12-month window so PennDOT could complete its roadway plans and notify Occidental of what, if any, land it might need to complete them.

Board members also approved other changes on the properties subject to supervision and approval by township staff members and engineers. Occidental representatives also agreed to return for further planning approvals as their marketing plans developed.

Monday’s review was the second time in as many months that the Occidental-BCW minor subdivision plan, which involves a change in lot lines, came before the board. It requires approval by the township Board of Commissioners, which is expected to consider the matter before July 6.

Related:

• “Now’s The Time” For Park Access
• Planners Accept Oxy Lot Change

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SANATOGA PA – A two-acre change between lot lines and property owners that not only will save a building but make former industrial land more marketable was approved Monday (April 20, 2009) by the Lower Pottsgrove (PA) Township Planning Commission.

Planners gave their blessing, during a monthly meeting in the township municipal building, to a minor subdivision proposal involving Occidental Chemical Corp. and BCW Associates Ltd. on properties at 351 and 375 Armand Hammer Blvd. The proposal reduces Occidental’s parcel from 222.8 acres to 220.9, and increases BCW’s holding from 40.8 acres to 42.6 in the township’s heavy industrial district.

The shift in lot lines and, if later approved by the township Zoning Hearing Board, subsequent zoning variances will allow the parties to retain rather than demolish a building on one lot, according to an Occidental attorney who made the company’s presentation to commission members.

The unanimous approval came at the end of an unusually lengthy commission meeting. During most months planners conclude their business within an hour, allowing them to get home to delayed but not-too-late dinners. But extensive discussions about an assisted and independent living facility proposed to be built near Pottstown Memorial Medical Center involved the group for slightly longer than double its average session.

Related:

• Paired Living Facility Proposed Near Hospital

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An effort to rename a street that honors a titan of industry, to one that honors a titan of civil rights, met resistance last night (Sept. 25, 2008) among members of the Lower Pottsgrove Township (PA) Board of Commissioners.

The corner of Armand Hammer and East High; Pottstown Memorial's in the background

The board voted unanimously to “leave unchanged” the name of Armand Hammer Boulevard, instead of re-naming it as Dr. Martin L. King Jr. Boulevard. The change had been sought by Newstell Marable, president of the Pottstown branch of the NAACP, in a recent letter to the township. Commissioners claimed a new street name would create economic “hardship” for business owners whose firms line the boulevard, because they would bear the cost of revising documents, advertising and other materials if their legal addresses changed.

The boulevard’s most visible occupant is Pottstown Memorial Medical Center, on the southeast corner of its intersection at East High. Other businesses on Armand Hammer include Home Depot, A.D. Moyer Lumber, Aldi’s Foods, and several physicians’ offices in the Chesmont Professional Building across the street from the hospital entrance.

Near the entrance.

Armand Hammer Boulevard begins at East High Street in the borough of Pottstown, about a quarter-mile west of Porter Road, and continues south for about 1-1/2 miles into Lower Pottsgrove. It ends as a cul-de-sac in what is now called the Tri-County Commerce Park, an industrial center that contains the 257-acre former site of Occidental Chemical Company. Part of the boulevard leads to ramps on Pottstown’s east end that funnel traffic from and to U.S. Route 422.

Township Manager Rodney Hawthorne said a name change would need approval by the commissioners and Pottstown Borough Council because the boulevard crosses both municipalities. Marable presented similar requests to Pottstown officials earlier this year.

Marable’s letter said changing the boulevard’s name would pay appropriate tribute to King, the Baptist minister who was a pivotal figure in the American civil rights movement. King helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, and remained its president until his assassination in 1968.

Hammer was an industrialist and business tycoon who for decades was president of Occidental Petroleum, of which the chemicals company is a wholly-owned subsidiary. The boulevard was named in Hammer’s honor after OxyChem, as it is nicknamed, evolved from the Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corp. that operated in the industrial center. Hooker purchased the property in 1980 from its previous owner, the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.

At the time, the highway was named Firestone Boulevard.